John McDonnell is right to
say that the Queen should "open up her full financial records" in the wake of
the Paradise Papers scandal (John McDonnell calls on Queen to release financial
records amid Paradise papers leak, 11/11/17). The revelation
that the Duchy of Lancaster invested millions of the Queen`s money in a Cayman
Islands` offshore portfolio which "are not set out in the royal household`s
annual statements" begs obvious questions about the quality of advice being
currently given.
What the Papers also
revealed were details about how the British government had been influenced by
offshore lobbyists in the lead up to the 2013 G8 summit, whose themes were tax
evasion and transparency. Whilst neither May or Hammond will
do anything about this, parliamentary committees could and should. Labour MPs
should be demanding answers regarding what in the Papers was called "superb
penetration of UK policymakers" by lobbyists on behalf of the International
Financial Centres Forum (IFC) which represents offshore law firms. It`s little
wonder the G8 measures on evasion and transparency in 2013 were so
ineffective. Shouldn`t the Public Accounts Committee be demanding to question
Shona Riach, the senior Treasury official, who had a "crucial meeting",
according to the Papers, with IFC representatives two days before the summit?
Similar questions must be asked of David Gauke, the then exchequer secretary to
the Treasury, who also had meetings with IFC prior to the
summit.
It`s clearly not only the
Queen who has been embarrassed by the leaks, but the sad fact is that serial tax
avoiders, like Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, and racing driver tipped for
knighthood, Lewis Hamilton, reveal no shame when named! The little embarrassment
caused to the super-rich by the Papers show laws must be
changed.
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